526 
ATROPIA  FROM  AMERICAN  BELLADONNA 
ON  THE  PRODUCTION  OF  ATROPIA  FROM  AMERICAN  GROWN 
BELLADONNA  ROOT. 
Br  William  Procter,  Jr. 
(From  the  Proceedings  of  the  Amer.  Pharm.  Association,  1860.) 
At  the  Meeting  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association, 
at  Boston,  September,  1859,  I  accepted  the  following  question : 
"  The  Atropa  Belladonna  is  largely  grown  at  New  Lebanon,  (New 
York,)  for  the  preparation  of  the  officinal  extract.    Can  the  root  of  the 
plant  as  grown  there,  be  advantageously  employed  as  a  source  of  atropia?" 
Through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Henry  A.  Tilden,  of  New  Lebanon, 
several  pounds  of  belladona  roots  were  collected  in  October  last, 
and  carefully  dried  after  being  transversely  sliced  in  the  manner 
of  columbo  root.  These  roots  had  a  light  ashen  yellow  color, 
and  an  odor  analogous  to  that  of  stramonium  roots,  which  in 
fact  they  in  several  respects  resemble.  The  drug  fairly  represent^ 
ed  the  plant  as  produced  in  that  locality,  and  was  reduced  to 
powder  by  grinding. 
10,000  grains  of  the  powdered  roots  were  moistened  with  half 
a  pint  of  alcohol  of  85  per  cent,  packed  firmly  in  a  large  glass 
funnel,  suitably  arranged  for  percolation,  and  covered  with  a 
disc  of  filtering  paper.  Alcohol  of  the  same  strength  was  now 
poured  on  from  time  to  time,  until  ten  pints  of  liquid  had  very 
slowly  passed.  The  first  six  pints  of  liquor  were  kept  separate 
from  the  last  runnings.  The  tinctures  were  set  aside  (the  wea- 
ther being  cool)  until  a  convenient  season.  In  about  a  week 
the  stronger  liquid  commenced  to  deposit  a  crystalline  substance 
on  the  inside  of  the  bottle,  which  at  the  end  of  two  weeks  ap- 
parently ceased  to  increase  in  bulk.  The  liquid  was  decanted, 
the  crystals  detached  from  the  sides  of  the  vessel,  washed  with 
alcohol  and  when  dried  weighed  112  grains.  Examined  with  a 
lens,  the  crystals  were  found  to  be  a  derivative  of  the  oblique 
rhombic  prism*  and  in  fact  to  resemble  cane  sugar.  They  were 
soluble  in  water,  had  a  sweetish  taste,  were  colorless  and  bril- 
liant, were  charred  by  concentrated  sulphuric  acid,  and  when 
boiled  with  water  containing  a  minute  quantity  of  tartaric 
acid,  easily  reduced  the  oxide  of  copper,  when  Trommer's  test 
for  grape  sugar  was  applied,  thus  leaving  no  doubt  of  their  sac- 
charine nature. 
